Remnants

Chapter Four

| Jaric |

--*--

Streaks of blue lightning exploded from beneath my skin. They branched out along my body and cracked loudly as they struck the earth, scorching the grass at my feet.

Eli. I stared at him, my grip tightening around the hilt of my sword.

He was going to die!

I planted my foot firmly behind me as I prepared to strike, but my body suddenly felt tight and constricted. I tried moving my arms, but again, it was as though some invisible force was preventing me from doing so.

I couldn't make sense of it. Why couldn't I move?

I looked at Eli. A smug look was on his face.

Is he doing this? Is he fucking with me?

Bullshit! I wasn't about to be overpowered! Not by him! Not by anyone!

I fought against the restricting force, and slowly, I began to move. It took one hell of an effort and most of my energy, but the invisible force slowly tore and weakened. I wasted no time pushing off my feet, reducing myself to a blur as I sped toward him.

I saw it, in slowed time...his neck. I heaved my sword toward it, and...

"What the..." I muttered.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

Dozens of glistening shards scattered across the grass. My sword...

...it shattered?

How could this happen? My sword... it shattered like it was a common piece of glass.

I looked at him. The impact had tilted his head no more than a mere inch to the left. At the base of his neck, a distorted bone had reached up from beneath his skin. It was small and narrow. My sword shattered...

...on a bone?

He rammed his hand against my face, gripping my jaw before hauling me from my feet. He stared me in the eyes, and with no visible emotion, pierced his fingers deep into my chest. "Where is the camp?" I barely heard him ask as I screamed in agony. My body shuddered and my vision blurred.

The camp? How does he know about the camp? It'd only been about six months since we arrived here, and it was made certain that we wouldn't be discovered.

Just who the hell is he?

I raised my trembling arm and reached my hand toward his head. I could barely grip him but as soon as I did, I blasted him with a powerful burst of lightning causing him to lose his grip on my face. I dropped to my knees and immediately grabbed my bleeding chest.

"How'd you like that?" I mumbled through a strained breath.

He groaned, but his voice quickly faded. Faint trails of smoke flowed from his scorched leather coat and his charred skin. He looked down at me, and to my continued disbelief, his skin slowly reverted to its original light pale complexion leaving no signs that he'd been injured.

"I'll ask you one last time," he said. A twisted bone extruded from the back of his fist. "Where is the camp?"

An immense level of Nether Energy exuded from him. It was more potent than the Goblins and Orcs we'd fought earlier. It was even more potent than the fucking orb!

"Who are you?" I asked.

He pressed the bone against my forehead, drawing a light stream of blood. "You shouldn't concern yourself with such trivial things."